High pressure laminates, particularly decorative laminates according to DIN 16926, (German Industrial Code) are manufactured from artificial resin impregnated paper sheets which are pressed in a hot press under high pressure. Usually, multi-daylight presses are used, which are fed with the desired cut to size, pressed laminate on carrier plates and placed between caul plates. Every press cycle, which consists of the heating and cooling of the press platens, requires a time period of about 1-2 hours. The necessity, at every press process, to use a large number of caul plates, imposes considerable cost related expenditures. The cyclical heating and cooling of the pressed boards leads to a high energy requirement.
In addition, there is a known process for manufacturing laminates (pressed boards) continuously in endless double-belt presses. In this case, the laminate supplied from an unwind stand is pressed between steel belts. The surface texturing in this case is accomplished by means of simultaneously running embossed paper webs, since the engraving of the steel belts and their conversion to different surface structures would be uneconomical.
The pressures attainable with double-belt presses are considerably lower than those attainable with discontinuous presses. In a known process of the initially named class (DE-PS 2 217 396), a single daylight hot press is used. The laminate for the manufacture of a single high-pressure laminate (pressed board) is picked up along its two longitudinal edges by two clamping strips which transfer the laminate into the hot press and release it there. After the pressing process, the laminate is again picked up by clamping strips and transferred out of the hot press. For that purpose, the clamping strips are moved back and forth in transfer direction. In that fashion only a single work station, namely the hot press, can be operated with the clamping strips. During each transfer process the laminate must be picked up against and released. During this process the laminate can be displaced.